When asked about the roots of political partisanship in Washington, retiring Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) traces the issue to Newt Gingrich.

I can see it very directly going back to 1994 and Newt Gingrich, Conrad told C-Span in an interview. He had a view, to take over the House of Representatives one had to bring down the institution and things have never been the same since.

Conrad has always been a typical douche bag Democrat. it is all good as long as we are in control of the House and the Leftist agenda is pushed. There was no partisanship in the Bork nomination, in stopping so many Bush appointees or any other Democrat inspired Tom Foolery. Only Conservatives are partisan.

3
posted on 12/26/2012 11:40:46 PM PST
by Jim from C-Town
(The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)

So, when the Democrats ran congress, there was no political partisanship. Ah, those were the days.

When Repubs pushed back, though, that was a bad thing. It upset the natural balance of the universe. In Democrat-world, not agreeing with them is bad. Its “partisan”.

They are half right. It is partisan, but that is not bad.

Its sort of like “grid-lock”. If half the congress wants to go in the wrong direction, which they always do, “gridlock” is the lesser of evils. Defeating them, Gingrich-style, is better though. Even if it is “partisan”.

Conrad has been there since the 80’s ... and, yet, it the fault of other people (some who have not been in Congress for over 10 years) . That’s the personal responsibility that Democrats are famous for.

It was clearly in evidence during Watergate....why hypocrites given Daley, Kennedy, LBJ, et al stealing elections.

It ramped up during the Bork Hearings. That’s when I really began to notice the partisanship and hatred, an increasingly divided nation ever since, save for a brief few months after 911 and Gulf War I.

7
posted on 12/26/2012 11:52:47 PM PST
by A_Former_Democrat
(Elections do have consequences, young people of America)

You could go back to the civil war or Eugene Debbs perhaps, but when trying to understand our modern differences, I think you need to start with Vietnam, Richard Nixon, and the hippies. We’re all still alive and not forgetting things.

The House of Representatives was the birthright of the Democrat Party. It had been that way since FDR and it was understood by everyone.

Then along comes Newt and upsets the apple cart and opens his can of Whoop-ass and spoils that long standing understanding between Democrats and Republicans that the Republicans will always be the Minority Party. The Republicans in return get collegial treatment by the Democrats and get invited to the best Washington parties.

Things were so nice and friendly like until Newt showed up.

Well the House could use another man like Newt again only this time maybe a true Reagan conservative.

14
posted on 12/27/2012 12:38:10 AM PST
by Pontiac
(The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)

Oh, yes, indeed, Senator - that’s when it started - in 1994. It never happened under the bi-partisan Dem leadership before that when they did things such as completely shutting Republicans out of hearings.

When asked about the roots of political partisanship in Washington, retiring Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) traces the issue to Newt Gingrich.

Conrad made a good point. Maybe it was about that time that the hard working people of this country started to wake up to the insane, self destructive "progressive" policies of the lemming Democrats. More and more, but not enough, people started to become aware of the "stealth socialism" being practiced by the far leftist leaning Democrats.

Stealth socialism was expressed in the housing bubble caused by Dodd/Frank policies. The current administration has launched a direct attack on the Christians of this country with forced subsidy of abortions, same sex marriage, and other threats.

The Democrats constant drum beat of attacks on free enterprise are carried out with budget-less wildly uncontrolled spending, constant whining about "fair share" of taxes (only directed to those who pay taxes), to provide more benefits to those who pay no taxes, more and more borrowing, and constant steps toward one world government.

Maybe Conrad continues to be blissfully unaware of the economic (and cultural) collapse facing the USA and other countries practicing destructive socialistic policies. Maybe he and other progressives cannot connect the dots, but many people have been connecting the dots, and they are frightened.

Yeah, too bad we can’t have back the good old days when we viciously attacked Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and taxed and spent the the compliant republicans went along with our schemes. Things have never been the same since Gingich and his conservatives took over the House!!

Alternative media was already having an impact. Rush had 2 NYTimes bestsellers and Newt had a following on his “special orders” CSPAN broadcasts...all before the ‘94 “tantrum”. Conservatives were finally getting their opinions unabashedly articulated, and the MSM still had no clue about the tsunami headed their way.

Before ‘94, as long as Dems ran DC and Brokaw, Jennings and Rather could promote the more enlightened Rockefeller Republicans, people did get along because it was one party rule.

And sometime after '94, the internet blew up...and the Dems are no longer in charge of messaging, no matter how hard they try.

Now if we can just get a Speaker more testicular than a Ken doll, maybe we can start talking about conservatism again.

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